Career Coaching for Social Impact Leaders with Lorrenza VanDiver

So you have been listening to this podcast for a while now but you are not yet working in social impact?  Maybe you are aspiring to start your own thing or maybe you are hoping to join a nonprofit that fits your values and passion!  

Today, the CEO of Audacious Resumes, Lorrenza VanDiver joins us to talk about the nitty gritty details of resumes, cover letters, networking and interviewing for social impact leaders.  

Join us as we explore exactly what we all need to know to join or shift careers into a mission-driven organization!  This is your personal social impact career coach!  

Transcript

Lorrenza Resume Recording Podcast

Lorrenza: [00:00:00] The biggest thing that I've seen was a lack of clarity. People are not really sure and they're just, Praying and spraying their resume out all over the internet and they're not hearing anything back.

Shiloh: The pray and spray method. It makes me laugh so much. I bet we're all a little bit guilty of that method sometimes. Right. Oh my goodness

Intro/Outro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Practice Good. The podcast that empowers change makers to give good and live good. Here is your host, Shiloh Karshima, social entrepreneur, corporate trainer, and former pastor. Join us as we explore the intersection of social impact and soul care!

Lorrenza: [00:00:00] All right. 

Shiloh:

Welcome to the podcast again, Lorrenza!. 

Lorrenza: Woohoo. Thank you so much, Shiloh, for having me. Super excited to, to be here and share some tips and techniques as people move forward in their career. Really, really happy to be here. 

Shiloh: Awesome. Well, let's dive right in. Tell us why you opened this new business. What are the needs? What led to this and what is it all about? What are your services and things? 

Lorrenza: Absolutely. I have been [00:01:00] in career services, for a number of years. I started off in higher ed working for universities in Ohio, Florida, and in Texas, and I loved it. Just being able to help students, adult learners, be able to translate their skills and their education to real world experiences.

Just really, excited me. So I delved into this career. I've had this, passion for helping people in their career for 10, 15 years now, and decided to take the leap and that is, what. Really excites me, helping people, women specifically take leaps of faith in their career. And that is something that I feel really passionate about.

I've taken a number of leaps in my career professionally, and I want to be able to help other people do the same. So that's how I got into this business. Currently, I help women with a resume, their cover letter and career coaching. So I, I. Wouldn't change it for the world. Took a leap back in March of [00:02:00] this year of stepping out of faith and leaving my tech role to pursue this a hundred percent.

Shiloh: What I love about this is you, you said it started in March, is that right? 

Lorrenza: Oh, no. I took the leap in March. But I have been doing this for a number of years, part-time on the side as my side hustle. As my side hustle. But now I'm doing this full-time as my main thing. 

Shiloh: Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I was like, yeah, you may have, jumped out in faith in March, but I know for years I have been sending everyone I know to you to write their resume because you're so good at it. And I love when people are just good at something that it naturally turns into a business. It's not like something you have to sit down and think about what should I do?

It was just like, you were so good at it and I know this because you've been interested in it for so many years, since I've known you, oh my gosh. Like almost about, almost like eight, nine years now. But I've seen your resume. I've seen you build other resumes. I've seen you build my resume and [00:03:00] they are hands down the best resumes I've ever seen and looked at.

I have hired people, and. Gone through thousands of resumes, and the ones that you create are always the ones that stand out. And so I love that you took this and you just like, Hey, let's just help more people. Let's serve more people. Let's make it happen. 

Lorrenza: That's being audacious, being bold, being risky, not standing blending into the crowd. Blending in is boring to me as a job seeker, you're wanting to stand out, and that's what being audacious is about. Taking those bold risks and standing out in front of the crowd. I love 

Shiloh: that. I was actually just talking to someone else about nonprofit work and social impact work, and he basically was like, look, if you're gonna do anything in this line of work, you have to learn to make big asks and step out in faith.

And he is like, you just can't do the work. You cannot do nonprofit work. You cannot do social impact unless you take the leap of faith. And I love this. It starts with even getting a job in the field. So talk to me [00:04:00] about, Social impact people, people who want to get into the nonprofit field, what are some things they should know in terms of just overall career advice or wisdom? What do we need to know to get into these types of jobs? 

Lorrenza: There's a lot that I think needs to be considered before one chooses this career path, as you know, and I know, and a lot of people in nonprofit social impact know there's a lot that should be considered as they move forward and make these decisions.

 First off, the careers within social impact is about passion and commitment, but they also require a strategic approach. So when I talk to someone who's interested in social impact, I want them to be very clear on what issues they're passionate about. Then I need them to research the organizations that actually align with their values.

So they need to understand that careers and social impact obviously revolves around making a difference, improving lives and addressing societal challenges. [00:05:00] But The passion that they're just supporting is, that's a bonus, it's a necessity. They'll need to know how to persist through challenges and draw on that passion and inspiration to motivate others.

It's a hard career field, right? This industry is tough on the mental space, right? So they need to understand that and be okay with that. They also need to understand the sector that they're going to move into. Nonprofit social impact is vast, right?

So with organizations focusing on a wide variety of areas and causes, they need to understand their landscape, understand the different organizational structures, being familiar with current trends, and that can help them identify the right opportunities. So passion is crucial. Understanding the sector and then also just be ready for diverse roles.

A lot of organizations especially the smaller ones, they require team members to wear multiple hats, right? And. We have to be flexible and agile and be willing to [00:06:00] do one thing in order to get to the next. So you might wanna be a project manager one day, a fundraiser the next day, and then a field worker, the week after that.

So, flexibility, adaptability obviously is key to have, those varied experiences as well. But I'd also encourage someone to emphasize their transferrable skills. Right. Emphasize those transferrable skills. Have some patience, sometimes getting in, finding the right career, the organization that you, the right cause might take some trial and error.

Being okay with stepping out on faith and taking a risk in certain organizations they might not have thought about. And then also, and you're probably gonna hear this a lot from me, and this is something I stress and it sounds interesting coming from a professional resume writer, but your resume is, The first step, right?

Getting that resume a solid resume. It's something that's really speaks to what you can bring to the organization, but that's the first step. People can't stop just there. You can't just stop right there. [00:07:00] I prioritize relationships over resumes always. So that networking connection, that networking, it actually matters as you move forward in your career,

Shiloh: It's interesting that you bring up networking. Talk to me a little bit more about that. Cause I know a lot of people are super intimidated by networking. They think it means going into a room and just passing out your business card and trying to sell yourself. 

Lorrenza: Networking is not just about handing out your business cards and going to all of these events, it is about really creating meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships on a professional level with people that motivate you, maybe inspire you that maybe that you wanting to your career to emulate or you can just learn from, right?

It's developing those relationships and not just being able to be served, but to serve right. I think I find the most the best relationships. Professionally have not just been ones that I wanted to draw from, but that I also wanted to be able to [00:08:00] share. The best thing that I be, I'm able to do is be able to help people in their careers, not just do their resumes, cuz that's what they expect, but connect them with people that I know that's in the industry that I can help further their career along.

So it's not just about. Connections. It's about deep, meaningful, professional relationships that you can build up over time, not just a one time event.

Shiloh: I love that, and there's so many ways to do that in person virtual, and now we've got LinkedIn, which I know it's been around for a while, but still a lot of people are really struggling with using it.

How can people trying to go into this field really utilize this tool of LinkedIn to do that? 

Lorrenza: I love LinkedIn. A lot of people have a love hate relationship where some people aren't even on it. And I say that I think that they're missing out if they're not. LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool for job seekers in the social impact sector.

One thing that I would start before you reach out to anyone is [00:09:00] start by optimizing your profile with your relevant keywords and all of your positions, is making sure that your profile is up to date in its current. It has a professional, headshot. If you're not, you don't have a professional headshot or you can't afford a professional headshot.

Take one with your phone I think is good. If you can't, if you don't like that there's some AI tools out there. I'll let you search that on your own. That can really produce a really nice headshot. And then not just stopping there. Really finding those organizations that we talked about, having a really good plan, but reaching out to people who are already in those organizations and asking them for a virtual coffee chat or asking them to meet in person.

Maybe there's a mutual connection that you both know and asking that mutual connection to introduce you to someone in that organization or to a friend that might be able to help you get into that sector. I think that's where you start making sure your profile is up to date, tailoring it to the field that you're interested [00:10:00] in, and then finding those strategic connections that might be able to serve you and you might be able to serve because it's not just one-sided anymore.

I get probably about 10 messages a day from people looking to sell me things. And I don't think that's a bad thing. That's what LinkedIn is made for, right? But again, just start by optimizing that profile and then reaching out to people in your desired field for informational interviews.

I have done those and they have been very beneficial for me. I'm taking that time out. And some people will say, no, some people won't respond to you, but every, no, every ignored message, it leads you to one. Yes. You never know what's behind that door behind that relationship by just asking.

Shiloh: Talk to us about some of the biggest mistakes we're making as humans and job seekers and social impact leaders. What do we need to know? 

Lorrenza: First of all, I think people should relax. Okay. When it comes to resumes that, and I know that sounds so [00:11:00] crazy coming from a resume writer, but I'm in a lot of these groups and people are not sure about what to do. I say calm down for a moment and then seek out someone that might be a professional right in that space because we can't master everything and to think that we can that's not true, right?

We can't do that. So one thing I would tell them to do is just take a breather and then seek out someone who might be an expert in that, realm. But now with the tools and the websites and obviously Chat GBT, you can create a good, resume on your own. I've seen thousands of resumes.

The biggest thing that I've seen was a lack of clarity. People are not really sure and they're just, Praying and spraying their resume out all over the internet and they're not hearing anything back. I would not advise someone that technique, right? Only a certain percentage of people actually find a job through online job boards and just, putting their resume out.

We don't wanna do that. You have way better responses if you [00:12:00] just reach out to connect with people who are experts in resumes, but also who might be able to help you, again, prioritizing those relationships over just having a great resume right. Then s eeing some form formatting issues a lot.

Grammar mistakes. We don't wanna do that. We want to make sure that we are putting out a really polished, professional document. But then the biggest thing, Shiloh, is not having those quantifiable results and achievements. That is the biggest thing. What is the impact? And a lot of people don't know it.

I get a lot of people saying, oh, well my boss never gave that to me. That's not always your boss's responsibility. That is your responsibility as a professional. You need to seek out what your impact was when you, put on this particular event, what was the impact? Did you survey people? As a person who's hired people, that's something that I wanna see and your employers are wanting to see the impact.

That you made as well. So I would [00:13:00] say having those quantifiable achievements on listed on your resume, clarity formatting, making sure that's in tip top shape as well. 

Shiloh: I am pulling so many random memories from the things you're talking about. I literally, in some of my positions, I would just have a notes document that I would keep open and anytime I felt like I accomplished something or I learned a new metric that was something that I contributed to the organization, I would just write it down, jot it down, because I knew there would be a day where I would forget.

And so it was so important to me to make sure I understood that because I had been through seasons where I was like, oh, I need that information, and I didn't know where to find it. Just keeping a running list is awesome. 

Lorrenza: I call that Shiloh a win board or a win document or just a master resume.

You can keep all of that into, one document all your performance reviews. Keep that stuff. Anything that's anyone has ever said about you, keep it. Any of your [00:14:00] certificates or letters of recommendation or even just thank you cards or emails from your clients or from your, your customers or from your teammates, your supervisors, keep it.

That stuff I use, I don't create mundane typical resumes. My resumes actually have quotes from performance reviews and things of that nature, their presentation style. I want my clients to stand out, so you wanna do that, but I can talk about this subject forever.

Those are just the basics off the top of my, head. But there's so many other things that people can really do to make themselves stand out on that resume, but the bottom line is just knowing what you're going after and creating a document that answers that particular employer's questions or answers their problems that they have.

Shiloh: The pray and spray method. It makes me laugh so much. I've hired people and I can tell when people just throw like very cookie cutter, canned resumes at me, and I just feel [00:15:00] like if you didn't like my organization enough to really spend time on it, I know I'm not your top favorite and I know it's probably not gonna be a great fit, so I just kind of throw it away.

So we think people don't know, but the reality is we know, and sometimes I've actually had resumes come into me that have other organizations names on them. They forget to change the copy and pasting and things like that, but that's hilarious. I've never actually heard that term. Pray and spray that I bet we're all a little bit guilty of that method sometimes. Right. Oh my goodness. 

Lorrenza: Absolutely. And now in today's economy, every job has three, 400 people applying to it, a lot of them. The competition is stiff. And if you're not doing that if you're not making sure that there's your resume is not just a list of duties that you did.

Duties are okay in certain aspects. But you can't make your whole resume just a list of duties and responsibilities that you've had. I see that you've had a job Sally, but what I don't know here is how good you are at that [00:16:00] job. Every line needs to be able to add value to that employer. So it takes extra time in doing it, but it's worth it in the end. 

Shiloh: Let's shift to cover letters. Why are they so difficult? Why does no one love them? And what are some tips to make them a little less daunting?

Lorrenza: Oh my goodness. Are cover letters hard?

Shiloh: I hate them. You're, are you good at them? I hate them. Oh my gosh. I hate them. 

Lorrenza: They don't, I don't think they have to be as complicated as people make them. There is a debate whether people read them, employers read them or not. And I think, you know, you'll never know when you're applying for jobs if it's important right? Or not.

Unless they explicitly say that you have to have a cover letter and, which I've seen job descriptions do that, right? They say that but it, a lot of times they don't. And I would tell my clients to always include a cover letter, a cover letter, and a resume. Think of them as they're married, they're a married couple, and they go together wherever they are.

I don't [00:17:00] believe it can hurt. Just to attach it. So always included, but I think a cover letter is just, It's a great story. It's a great story and it compliments and it's your resume, right? It compliments your resume. So I would tell people just to start by explaining why they're passionate about the organization.

If they just included that, I believe that's just basic enough to obviously be able to win. But if you wanna take it up a notch, obviously start by explaining why they're passionate about, about that organization. And then about the mission as well. Drawing in that missions that mission statement into the cover letter and explaining why they are a good fit, their, how their skills and experience align with the job.

To me, that can take all of. You know, 30 minutes, 20 minutes. Sometimes it's hard to do that when you're in this mode frantically applying for jobs, but I think it's worth it in the end, especially when you're up against people who are submitting cover letters. [00:18:00] How do you really stand out when you didn't take the time to craft one yourself, and there's 30 other 40 other people doing it the same way.

 I don't think there's anything bad about it. But I think. It's a good best practice to, to keep in mind, especially if this position that you're really looking you're really happy about and excited about. Use a cover letter and use it to your advantage and let your personality shine through.

They don't have these be these boring documents I think that we wrote like five, 10 years ago. They can be really exciting and it really just presents you as the best candidate. Yeah. 

Shiloh: I think my clarification is that I love to read them. I don't like to write them. As an employer. I definitely do. I first look at the resume. I quickly look at their job, longevity, how long they've been somewhere, what their positions or what companies they work for, what skillsets they needed. And then I jump to the cover letter and I go, okay. Do they have a connection to this place? Could they be passionate about [00:19:00] our work and does their personality seem like it would be a great fit for the culture?

If those two things are a good fit, then I go back to the resume and read in more depth. It's kind of my weird process. I don't know if it's the right way or not, but I love to read them. I just don't like the write them. 

Lorrenza: I totally get it. if you ask a hundred people about this and about anything about your resume, your career, you're gonna get 200, 300 different responses, right? Take this with a grain of salt. You have to do what fits your life and what you're wanting. To all the listeners out there, do what feels right to them. This is just speaking from my point of view because I've seen, I've been in these conversations and I've seen on LinkedIn where people and recruiters will debate about cover letters all day.

One recruiter had mentioned that she throws 'em away and that caused a big up storm. Like, why would you do that? Why would you do that to a candidate? So again, I just wanna make sure that if you're wanting to do everything that you can to do, to stand out, write it have somebody [00:20:00]proofread it. It can't, it can't hurt you.

Shiloh: So you've got a cover letter. Yeah. You've got your resume and now you've been called for an interview. What are some tips, especially going into the nonprofit field, what, is there anything unique to that field and what would you say to just people that really wanna land the position, but they might be a little nervous going into it.

Lorrenza: That's common, right? We, when we get a call for an interview, get really excited and then the nerves kick in and I think the way to combat that is to obviously do your research but even before you do your research, You wanna be very genuine about your passion and your mission for the field, and show that you've done your homework about the organization.

So you don't wanna lie, especially, going into nonprofit and you're gonna be, you know, worked. So you really wanna be passionate about that particular organization. They also want to share how their skills and [00:21:00] experiences line with the needs for the organization. So you under, you need to understand what those needs are.

So again, that's about doing your research. And you also wanna avoid solely focusing on what the organization can do for you. You want to remember that it's a two-way street and share how you can benefit the organization. So really just prepping getting a partner, right? I serve as a interview partner for people and just having somebody kind of practice and talk over that interview those questions that you might anticipate I think goes a long way in helping you feel a little bit more comfortable. And then also the one thing that I don't think people do enough is asking for the job at the end of the interview asking for it.

I know it seems a little bold and crazy, but the five other people might not have asked for it. So at the end, if you know that you rock that interview, ask for it, tell them while you're excited and reiterate your interest. And then after [00:22:00] the interview is done within 24 hours, this is a rule that I'm gonna give everyone.

Make sure that you send that. Thank you. Send the Thank you. Okay. I'm not gonna go into it and rant and rave about it, but send the Thank you. I think again, it's just one of those things that can't hurt. It shows that you've taken time and you're really interested in the position, but what it also does, Shiloh, is it tells them, in case there was any issue in that interview or that you didn't get to clarify something, you can clarify it, you can bring that up and you can answer it obviously in that response note or email that you send to them.

With that interview, send that interview note.

Shiloh: So is it appropriate to in the first interview talk about salary? And the second question is, as a person going into the nonprofit world or social impact of any kind, is it okay to [00:23:00] negotiate or does that kind of look off mission for, you know what I'm saying, like counter the mission of helping people. What would your advice be? 

Lorrenza: That's such a great question. It is okay to talk about a salary if they bring it up. If they bring it up. I know people think differently about that question. And approach it a little bit differently. A lot of people don't wanna waste their time, so I get that.

But absolutely. Bring you can share that. You're interested in the role and definitely talk about salary once they ask you about the salary. So that's, important. But when you're thinking about salary you have to know your worth before entering that salary negotiation do your research, but know your worth is critical to understand the value that you bring to that organization. But you also want to obviously respect budget constraints. Nonprofits, they operate under tighter budget constraints than [00:24:00] for-profit companies. So you wanna make sure that you understand that.

And then consider the full compensation package. It's not just salary, right? There's other things like flexible work hours and remote work options that you can obviously add to that package. So you want to keep that in mind, but most importantly, obviously you're gonna re communicate openly and obviously respectfully as well.

Shiloh: In an interview, it's not just you being interviewed, it's also you interviewing the organization and seeing if it's a right fit for you.

Do you know some questions? I know at the end they usually say, do you have questions for us? And a lot of people say, oh no, I think I'm good. Or they'll ask one question. But it really is an opportunity for us to get to know the organization and see is this gonna be the right organizational culture for me?

Is it a good fit? Are they going to allow me to pursue personal professional development? Is the team culture [00:25:00] a healthy one? Is it one that I wanna spend 40 plus hours a weekend? So how do you kinda get some of those questions answered on an interview? And maybe there are specific ways to do that.

Lorrenza: Yeah, a lot of people think that interviews like this pop quiz absolutely not come in there with notes. Come in there with questions that you want to ask, and I think that shows them that you're prepared. So I don't mind a interviewer having those questions written down.

That's not something that you should wing so have them written down. But also, think about the questions that you wanna answer. The thing I don't like about interviews is that they're very short. You might have a long interview process.

I've seen people go up to as many seven interviews with different people, but they're usually like one hour increments and sometimes that's not enough and they usually, what 50 minutes is for their questions, and then you only get 10 minutes. That makes me mad just thinking about it[00:26:00] to ask questions and judge if this is the organization that you wanna be a part of and dedicate the next several years of your life to but here's some questions that you can ask.

I think it's important, obviously, to ask about, Culture, but it's not just culture asking how they solicit that information and feedback from their employees. Can you share an instant where the organization implemented a significant change based on employee feedback? That's important.

It shows. It can show how receptive the organization is to feedback and how they seriously take their employees ideas. That's important. , it tells a lot about their culture. How does the organization support employees during challenging times or periods of significant change that's important.

Tell me about a time when an organization had to make, a difficult decision. Ask them behavioral-based interview questions, especially your manager and your supervisor, and how they support their employees. I think that's important.

Those are just the surface, but really getting to the heart. Everybody has their own motives and own questions. [00:27:00] Really getting to the heart and making sure that you ask those questions that you really have is the most important thing. I can't say that there's one question that you always have to ask.

Everybody has their own, and it might already been answered, but everybody has their own needs. And I would just say make them relevant and make them known and ask them. 

Shiloh: Are there any resources that you would recommend for people wanting to go into the helping profession or nonprofit what do, where do you look? Where do you go for resources? What do you do? And you can also tell us where can. Find you? If people are listening and they're like, all, this is great. I could make an AI resume, but the reality is like, I don't know what I'm doing at the end of the day and I don't know how to correct the ai.

Like I just need Lorrenza. Like how do I find her? 

Lorrenza: Absolutely. There is a lot of different resources online and tap into those. Idealists is a, is a big one. Work for Good is another one. The Foundation Center, there's a million of different websites obviously they can go on.

Indeed [00:28:00] is the big one. Most companies have an account or post on Indeed. But the really big thing is or the thing that no one thinks about is those professional associations, right? You want to tap into those. A lot of people forget about just the amount of knowledge that you get by joining a professional association, but a lot of them have career boards that you can go in and apply so making sure that they do that. But. Using the tools at your disposal, and that is not just online and Indeed and LinkedIn, but it's also your relationships. It's your friendships and the people that you know, and the people that you. The friends of the friends that you don't, you don't know yet, but you can ask for those in that introduction.

Those are just some resources. There are some really good ones if you wanna connect with me and we can strategize how to tap into those. You can definitely reach out to me at lorrenza@audacious resumes.com. You can go to my website, [00:29:00] audaciousresumes.com, and we can connect and you can also obviously find me on LinkedIn and Twitter @audaciousresumes.

Shiloh: Lorrenza, thank you so much for just being generous with your time and pouring into us today. I know so many people on our podcast are already in positions and we kind of forget the people that are following along that. Kind of wanna get into this field. And I think this is so special today, especially for those trying to kind of shift careers or spaces and it was just so helpful.

So thank you so much. I hope to see some really cool testimonials of our listeners coming to you. And I know I have my own. We just love you and we're grateful for you coming back again, a second time to spend 

with us.

Lorrenza: Thank you. I loved being here and happy to, happy to serve.

Intro/Outro: Thank you for tuning in.

We hope this episode has given you some valuable insights and inspiration for your social impact journey. If you enjoyed the show, let us know, follow and leave a review, [00:27:00] and don't forget to share the fun with your friends and followers. Now go out there and create some positive change!